Will ‘MyPillow Guy’ Mike Lindell be Minnesota’s Republican nominee for governor?

Need a lesson in savings? Who doesn't? That's where Burlington comes in for back-to-school style. Because those school lists get long, but your receipts shouldn't. Find backpacks and sneakers to sweatshirts and jeans. Burlington has them all from the brands your kids keep begging for. Why choose just a few looks? With our prices, just get them all. Burlington, deals, brands, wow. Nothing beats tradition, like weekly game nights at Mom's House and Tostitos. Crafted with Maza made the traditional way, starting with whole corn kernels, with flavors worth gathering around, like a hint of lime and Mexican street corn, and no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. That's the Tostitos way. Bring Tostitos to your next game night, and you'll be winning either way. Tostitos, Tradition Matters. Hey, good evening from New York. I'm Jacob Soberoff in for Chris Hayes. We are 85 days away from the midterm elections. And the messaging from the White House and its buds over on Fox News is that the Democratic Party is running a bunch of radicals and extremists. We have jihadists being elected all over the place. We have this, whether it's communism, geotism, people don't want to have radical lunatics involved in running our country. And that's what we have. Of course, that is a racist lie. Democrats are not running communists, nor are they running jihadists. And seriously, what do you say? People don't want to have radical lunatics involved in running our country. Mr. President, the call is coming from inside the house. Just take a look at your own party. Because Republicans are suffering from what former Senate leader Mitch McConnell used to euphemistically call candidate quality issues. To be more blunt, they are running a bunch of cranks and psychos in the mold of Donald J. Trump. In Ohio, Republicans are now panicking that they will lose a safe red house seat after Congressman Max Miller refused to drop out of the race. As of something like four hours ago, the deadline to replace Miller on the ballot has passed. He will be the Republican nominee for his district, even after some truly shocking allegations of domestic violence were made against him. They were made by his ex-wife, Emily Moreno, the daughter of sitting Republican Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno. She's accused him of throwing hot water on her, holding a gun to her head, and possibly breaking their two-year-old daughter's collarbone. For his part, Miller, he denies it all. He has not faced charges over those allegations. But recent polling has Democrat Brian Poindexter now leading Miller in a district that Trump won by 11 points two years ago. This should not be a competitive race, but it appears now to be one. Because Republicans continue to nominate, to borrow a phrase, the worst of the worst. It's the same story down in Texas where Democrat James Talarico is actually leading. He is leading in some polls against Republican Ken Paxton in the race for that state's open Senate seat. Ken Paxton is comically scandal-ridden. He has been indicted on fraud charges, although he has never been convicted. A court once mandated he'd take ethics counseling. He has been accused of essentially stealing a $1,000 pen from another attorney, although he returned it. He returned it once he was caught.

At one point, the Republican Texas legislature tried to impeach him. He is also the guy whose wife announced that she is divorcing him on what she called biblical grounds. She was too polite to say it, but Ken Paxton has been, has been dogged by allegations of infidelity for many years. His own lawyers didn't even deny it when asked by the Washington Post. Again, this is Texas. It really should not be a competitive race. If incumbent John Cornyn had not lost to Ken Paxton in the primary, it probably wouldn't be. But you know what? Donald Trump endorsed Ken Paxton over John Cornyn and now Republicans need to spend money, a lot of money, to try and hold a seat in a state where a Democrat has not won statewide in 30 years. And then there's Minnesota where primary voters are heading to the polls. They're going tomorrow. We're going to have live coverage of the results right here on MS Now. In that state Senate race, there is a guy named Royce White. He is running to be the Republican nominee just like he was in 2024 when he got blown out by, let me check, 16 points. And White's name may be familiar to you for reasons other than politics. He was a former first-round NBA pick who almost immediately kind of washed out of the league. He's what you might call a draft bust. And when his basketball career airballed. He pivoted to right-wing crankery. He is currently in the middle of a truly bizarre promotional stunt where he is claiming to be transgender. He's claiming to be transgender for, let me get this right, for the purposes of basketball. He says it's in order to participate in the WNBA. Watch this. I'm transgender. I'm a woman. I identify as sometimes identifying as a woman for purposes of basketball, professional basketball. So I'll be declaring for the WMBA draft in 2027 as well. What? It's not just bizarre. It is transphobic. But the real star of the show in Minnesota is one of the people who endorsed White for Senate, the leading candidate in the Republican gubernatorial race, a man. At this show, we like to call Mike Pillow. You remember him? You remember the My Pillow guy? You might recognize him from his ads on Fox News. Or maybe even from the time he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election. He even made a little documentary about it. I've been trying since November 4th to prove, you know, to show what's out there. Why are these deviations that happened on election night? And none of it made any sense. So I dove all in with everything I had resources. Anytime I heard something that maybe was relevant, I went and said, you know, looked into it, did my own due diligence, had my, even my own investigations. Well, on one day, I think it was like January 9th, all of a sudden, these people, they brought me some. A piece of evidence that's 100% proved. It's like a print of inside the machine of the timestamp that showed another country, other countries attacking us, hacking into our election through these machines, and it shows the boats flip. What?

This total nonsense. I covered Lindell earlier this month on my show, Connect, including the time he reacted like this during a deposition when he was asked if customers complained about, I swear to you, lumpy pillows. No, they're not lumpy pillows. That's not what they call on, okay? When you say lumpy pillows, now you're an asshole. You got that? You're an asshole is what you are. No, he's an asshole. He's an ambulance chasing ass. That's what you are. Lumpy pillows. Kiss my ass. Put that in your book. Lumpy pillow. I'm not going to say it again. Are we sure that guy's got the temperament to be the governor of Minnesota? By the way, Lindell is still talking about the 2020 election six years later. He is basically campaigning on it. This is a spiritual battle of evil and good of biblical proportions. We agreed in 2020. We came into a historical agreement on the election fraud. She went after the machines. She named them in the movie Kill Chain. She named them. And she went after this fraud. But then she stopped after the 2020 election. What did Mike Lindell do since said? I spent $80 million trying to secure our elections in this country. And that guy is within striking distance of becoming the Republican nominee to be the governor of Minnesota. The party of radical lunatics is already here. Keith Ellison is the Attorney General of Minnesota, and he joins me now. Mr. Attorney General, good to see you. It's always good to see you, man. How you doing? I'm doing great. Thank you so much for being here. Tomorrow night's going to be a big one because Mike Lindell might be the nominee. It is crazy to even say it. Might be the nominee for governor in your state. How are you feeling about that? I think he will be. And how do I feel about it? Well, we got a pretty sharp candidate that he's trying to take out. Amy Klobuchar is principled. She's smart. She's up to this and she's going to wipe the floor with him. But to be honest with what's that? Go ahead. I was going to say, I think we all need to get ready for the fact that Mike Lindell will be leading the Republican ticketed for governor in Minnesota, but he's going to be up against a very formidable opponent who I have real confidence in. So Amy's going to deal with him, and it'll be bad for him. I'll put it like that. I mean, this could, Mike Lindell and what he may say about the election results there may very well cross your desk as the Attorney General. Are you preparing for him to make more bogus claims of fraud if he loses to sue? We are prepared to protect our elections. We've been working this. We've been doing tabletop games to make sure that anyone, whether it's ICE or Mike Lindell or anybody, tries to interfere or undermine Minnesota elections, we will be in court fighting them. We're ready to go. And we've been working on this for literally months. So we've thought about every...

a bad thing they might try to do to undermine our elections. And I feel very confident that we will be prepared. But Mike Lindell has already been rejected. He's already been exposed. He's already been shown to be a liar and a charlatan. And he's going to get more of that. You know, he, the dog may have caught the car. And Mike Lindell may move from the obscure, obscure shadows and kind of a joke, to a true laughing stock once Amy Klobuchar and him square off. So the thing is, I mean, go ahead, go ahead, Mr. Trade General. I was going to say, so I'm not, I'm not fearing an election, and we are protecting the integrity of our elections. So my thing is, let's get it on. I was going to say he is obviously unqualified, but is he literally unqualified? There's been all this reporting in Minnesota. The Star Tribune has been doing an extraordinary job about how his residency status may make him ineligible even to be running for the governorship of the state of Minnesota. What is your opinion about that? I'm not prepared to offer an opinion at this moment. These things are being carefully considered. But I will tell you this, he's better be able to prove his full qualifications like everybody else has to. And I'll leave it right there. Are you, you know, Royce, excuse me, Lindell endorsed Royce White for Senate. And this happened over the weekend. And White is in the middle of what sure looks like this transphobic, you know, WMBA stunt. Did you see that video? What do you make of all that? Yeah, in fact, I'm well aware of Mr. White. He is mocking people in our community. A person who identifies as transgender is a valued, legitimate member of our community who does not deserve to be mocked by the likes of Royce White. But I will tell you this. I wouldn't advise Worst White to get on the court with the likes of Caitlin Clark. He'll get embarrassed all over again. He didn't do much in the NBA and he won't do nothing in the WNBA. But jokes aside, it's disrespectful. It's cruel. And he's trying to distract people away from the fact that... Under Republican leadership in Washington, we have seen prices on every important commodity go up. We've seen debt go up. We have seen ourselves get into pointless wars. They have failed in every imaginable way. So what does he do? He tries to direct scorn towards our transgender community. We won't have it. We value our transgender neighbors, but we don't value the kind of stunt and chicanery that he engages in.

literally all the time. He's a well-known character, and he kind of thrives on the attention, but he will be going down and defeat as well. There are so many election contests that we're following in Minnesota, and we're also on the Democratic side for Lieutenant Governor. You have Penny, Peggy Flanagan, who, you know, I know you have endorsed. This is a close race against Congresswoman Angie Craig. What are your expectations there? Well, I expect that with Peggy's ground game, we will see victory tomorrow night. Andrew's a friend of mine. I respect both of them. But I think that Peggy has been much more faithful to the struggle for human dignity. She's been with our immigrant communities. She stood strongly with them. She stood for a fair economy. And I just think that the voters are going to know that. Plus, we got a heck of a ground game. And she is the Democratic DFL endorsed candidate. And we've been knocking all day. In fact, I've been knocking all day personally. And so I think that is going to win the day tomorrow. But whoever we end up with, even if it's Angie, we're going to come together strong as one unified Democratic Party. I'm betting on Peggy. But Angie's a friend and I certainly respect her. I got to ask you because I was in Michigan last week covering the election there. You were the first Muslim elected to Congress. And Abdul El-Sayed might be the first Muslim elected to the Senate. The Republicans are running, you know, racist, Islamophobic, advertisements against him. It is getting really nasty, really quickly there. I wonder, in the 30 seconds or so we have left, what do you make of that race? Well, what I make of that race is that Abdul is going to prevail because Michiganders are not racist anti-Muslim people. They're going to look at credentials. They're going to look at records. And they don't want a copy cutout of a Trumpster. They want somebody who's going to really represent Michigan. Michigan has had some tough economic times. They need an advocate who will fight for them. Not somebody's just going to rubber stamp Trump. So I think good days for Abdul, but it's going to take a lot of work because they're going to smear a lot and throw a lot of mud around. But goodness will prevail, and we will be working toward that every day. I'm sure I'll be back out there and in Minnesota soon. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, appreciate you being here. Thank you. Have a good day now. You got it. You too. Coming up, Donald Trump quietly admits that maybe, maybe he might have been a little bit wrong about the reflecting pool. He really said that. Stay with us. Need a lesson in savings? Who doesn't? That's where Burlington comes in for Back to School style. Because those school lists get long, but your receipts shouldn't. Find backpacks and sneakers to sweatshirts and jeans. Burlington has them all from the brands your kids keep begging for. Why choose just a few looks? With our prices, just get them all. Burlington, deals, brands, wow.

Nothing beats tradition, like weekly game nights at Mom's House and Tostitos. Crafted with Maza made the traditional way, starting with whole corn kernels, with flavors worth gathering around, like a hint of lime and Mexican street corn, and no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. That's the Tostitos way. Bring Tostitos to your next game night, and you'll be winning either way. Tostitos, Tradition Matters. The Serta Labor Day sales event is here. It's the unofficial end of summer, which means shorter days and longer nights. So fill them with perfect sleep night after night. Save up to $800 on Serta Perfect Sleper X mattresses and adjustable base sets. See how the Q4 support system helps relieve aches and back pain. Limited time offer. Visit Serta.com to find a retailer near you. Perfect sleeper. Perfect sleep night after night. For months, the White House has engaged in a smear campaign, accusing people of vandalism against Donald Trump's great project, his reflecting pool. By the time I went down to D.C. ahead of Trump's July 4th event, the so-called American flag blue pool had changed to a murky, nasty, extra funky, algae green color. So, of course, the president says there was foul play. They cut it up with a box knife and tried to destroy it. And it's in great shape now. They're terrible. They're vandals. It looked beautiful. And then they cut it and they vandalize it. So certainly when it was vandalism, it was actually, in my opinion, it was major vandalism. The chief target of Trump's claims of so-called major vandalism was Olympian David Hearn, who he was charged with a felony by a former Fox host turned Washington, D.C. U.S. attorney Janine Piro. You know what happened? That case was later dismissed by a D.C. judge after Piro filed a motion to dismiss the charges when it was discovered that faulty installation by a contractor was the cause of the algae, not vandalism. Shocker. Even Donald Trump is seemingly admitting defeat. Posting last night on social media, quote, there was substantial other damage to the reflecting pool, but unfortunately there is no video proof other than the damage itself. Trump continued with a very telling admission, quote, as with many jobs, there were also some contractor error done by rushing the job for a July 4th opening, but it was a very small area of this massive pool and it was relatively inconsequential. Okay, got it. Norm Eisen is the attorney for David Hearn. He's also the founder of the Democracy Defense Fund. He joins us, Defender's Fund, he joins us now. Norm, it's good to see you. That truth social post. What do you make of that? Why is he admitting this now? Well, he's trying to catch up. To his own U.S. attorney who said that a rush, this is a quote. Tell me. I've never read anything like this. Tell me. In my life, a rushed and botched installation by the primary contractor led to the damage to the lining of the reflecting point. But Norm, he says it was a very small area of this massive pool and it was relatively inconsequential.

Well, Jacob, I was there as part of our case. We filed, made seven filings with the court, pointing out things like the photographs, the before and after photographs prove that Davey Hearn did not damage the pool. I saw the pool. It is a terrible mess. There is damage all over that pool. And no wonder this extraordinary 19-page filing. by Donald Trump's own administration says not vandalism, a botched and rushed installation. You, I saw you spoke to the New Republic earlier and you, you're demanding transcripts, if I have this right, to show whether prosecutors are candid with the grand jury. Can you tell us more about that? The judge dismissed the case, but he left open the question of whether as the government wants the case is dismissed without prejudice. That means they could bring it again if they chose to or if the president pressured them to. Or with prejudice, which means the door is closed and the harassment of Mr. Hearn has to stop. We filed a brief requesting with prejudice. The test for that requires us to get these grand jury materials because if they show that there was dishonesty with the grand jury, that is evidence that Mr. Hearn, as we believe, is being harassed. So while their harassment is clear, we want all the evidence so we can prove. dismissal with prejudice, persuade the judge, and let's bring this to an end for once and for all. In the criminal case, is there a civil case? Maybe is your client going to sue the government over his treatment by the Trump administration? Well, we're considering all options at Democracy Defenders Fund and Action. We have over 300 legal cases and matters, so we're not shy about defending democracy. But in the meantime, we're starting to see other shoes start to drop the congressional minority in the House have said they're going to investigate this. You could have an office of the Inspector General investigation at both Interior and Justice. Well, I talked to Sheldon White House last week here on this broadcast, and he said that he wrote a little, I remember, with Martin Heinrich. They urged the Department of Interior, the Office of the Inspector General to open a case, you know, in this, the whole thing. Have you heard from, from Senator White House? Great respect for Senator White House. He offered some comments on social media about the case and the Trump tweets. And we believe that there should be investigations. And I will say this. This case is not going away because it has captured the corruption and the victimization of innocent people. Davy Hearn's an ordinary concerned citizen. He was on a bike ride. He went to look at the reflecting pool. He's touched water as an Olympian, as a many-time world champion, brought honor to the country. Now it's a felony to touch.

the pool. So the American people are very upset about it. We're going to keep going in court and otherwise. There's this gentleman David Kirk, who's a Trump loyalist, who's the inspector general of the Department of the Interior. How concerning to you is that if this investigation goes forward? Well, I think that the possibility that Mr. Kirk may end up being the one to look at it should be concerning. Obviously, this administration, starting with the president and the newly installed attorney general, have been on a revenge campaign, a campaign of illegality of benefiting the president, like... Not just this case, so many others, Letitia James, James Comey, the slush fund. Yep. I mean, it's so outrageous. But the good news is you have things like Jamie Raskin announcing House investigation. We're considering all of the legal and litigation options. So there'll be multiple avenues, Jacob. The Attorney General... swearing-in was closed to the press. So we're not even going to show the pictures from it today. But the person who did the swearing-in was Emil Beauvais, who was also part of defending Trump in this hush money case. What does that mean to you? I don't think it serves the interests of the United States to have a Trump defense lawyer reunion in the Oval Office. And one of them is a sitting federal judge. And the other one is the attorney general. They are supposed to serve. the United States, not Donald Trump. And Todd Blanche slipped at his hearing, and he said, I'm his lawyer. Oops, I was his lawyer. My slip is showing. It's my slip is showing. Norm Eisen, it's always so great to talk to you. It's nice to see you here in New York. Thanks, Jacob. Thanks for being here. Still ahead. Max Miller, officially on the ballot, despite those very serious allegations against him, the Democratic nominee for governor, Amy Acton, in Ohio. He joins me next.

At exactly 4 p.m. Central time today, the final deadline passed for Ohio Republicans to name a possible replacement on the ballot for the embattled Congressman Max Miller. Miller is a former Trump White House staffer, and he's been accused of some very, very serious domestic violence by multiple women in Republican circles, including his ex-wife, the daughter of Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno. Miller's response has been to not only deny the allegations, but to go after his accusers. So ask yourself, if I had assaulted her, would she had offered a cook meat dinner six days later? Would she have invited me to spend an afternoon at the playground with her and our daughter? Would she have written that we were in a friendlier place? No, she wouldn't have, ladies and gentlemen. Today, three people with direct knowledge tell Politico that aides in the Trump White House asked Ohio Republicans last week not to publicly press Miller to quit. Miller can still drop out. But now after today's deadline passed, there would be no one to replace him on the Republican ticket, but he's not doing that. Instead, he has been on a TV tour, arguing that he should be allowed to stay in Congress because he is just like the party's standard bearer. When we go all the way back to 2015, 2016, and people in the media, and they looked at President Donald J. Trump, and everyone came out with allegations. Dozens of women, dozens of crazy allegations, dozens of nasty criminal misconduct. And do you want to know what he did, Rob? He stayed in the fight. This guy seems proud of that comparison. And now Republican elected officials are stuck with Miller, and most are pretending that... Everything's perfectly fine, just as they regularly do with Donald Trump. But that is not going over well with Ohio voters. Last week, there was a Republican-leaning poll of likely voters in Miller's 7th District that shows that only a third of them would vote to re-elect him today. He trails his Democratic challenger, Brian Poindexter. I spoke with him last week on this broadcast by 14 points. As my MS now colleague Alex Tabbitt heard in multiple conversations last week, a lot of Ohio voters are struggling with the cost of gas and groceries and health care as abuse is heaped upon their Haitian American neighbors and Trump's endless war overseas drags on. They seem super tired of their very real problems being overshadowed by more MAGA scandals. Dr. Amy Acton is the Democratic nominee for governor in Ohio running against Republican nominee, Vivek Ramaswamy. She is a physician and a former state health director in Ohio. And she joins me now. Thanks for being there. Thank you so much, Jacob. Thank you for having me. Dr. Amy Acton, Max Miller is now officially on the ballot in Ohio. How are you processing that? You know, I think the way you set this story up was exactly right. Ohio is exhausted of living this way. Top of mind for folks, and we see record crowds of people. It doesn't know party. It's the cost of everyday living. They're working harder than they ever have. There is no breathing room. And they are longing for public servants again who actually solve problems instead of make them. You know, this is a terrible.

terrible story. And you know who's standing by him is my opponent, Mr. Vivek Ramaswamy Karamazwamy. My story is that I had a very rough childhood. I was a victim of abuse, sexual and child abuse as a kid growing up. And they keep excusing this kind of behavior. My opponent actually said that I was just complaining about something that was done to me in my childhood. You know, when I endured so much, I lived in a tent in the middle of winter. And I'm lucky to be here today because there are enough good people in my community who refused to look the other way. And I am refusing to look the other way. And Ohioans are refusing to look the other way. Well, these bad actors and special interests keep taking my state backwards. It's time for a change. Making this decision that you made to run for governor is a huge one. And you made it against the candidate who is being backed by a super PAC that's receiving millions of dollars from Elon Musk and other billionaires. How'd you make that decision? You know, I am a doctor. I'm not a politician, but I am a lifelong public servant. And, you know, it's an honor to serve. I actually served most recently along Governor Mike DeWine. It would be a long side of him during the COVID pandemic. I'm blessed that something happened to bond with Ohioans, and it does not know party. Yes, my opponent, I knew from the beginning that we were up against a self-funding billionaire with friends like Elon Musk and other folks from out of state who don't care about Ohio, but I do care about Ohio. I've been fighting for it my entire life. My opponent has spent... over $50 million since March, and it hasn't moved the needle one inch. We have been tied our head in every single poll. We're up telling our story now. And what we're hearing from Ohioans, I believe, like I said, they're ready for change. One of your top issues, obviously, as a doctor, is affordability as it relates to health care. And there's this state house news report that was... talking about how Ohio is leading the nation and the percentage of those who dropped out of the ACA health care coverage. ACA enrollment fell more than 32% between, I think, February 2025 and February 26, more than any other state, as I said. Why is this happening? Why do you think it's happening? We talked about it on my show this past weekend. The federal government, the Trump administration, wants to believe that there's some kind of fraud is the reason for the decrease in enrollment. But when you look at the... the taking away of the subsidies, that is what most people say why they ended up dropping their plans.

Listen, this is something I hear from Ohioans everywhere I go. Every one of us is one health care emergency away from losing everything. We've worked for our entire lives. And health care costs are the number one cost we are facing in Ohio. People are in medical debt. We are literally hearing stories about babies being born roadside in a state that always had some of the best health care systems. in the country. It takes an hour and 15 minutes to deliver a baby for some folks, to get to the hospital, to get your kids cavity filled. We have rural hospitals collapsing. urban hospitals, and these cuts to Medicaid that are coming in January 27 are going to kick more and more people off the rolls. You're right. Our state had the most people not enroll in the Affordable Care Act, and it's not just people in their families who are going without. You know, a lot of small business owners want to keep their employees. They try to help with those subsidies, but they quadrupled so people can't help. This is a tragedy, and we were in a county recently. the fastest growing counties in this country. And they just closed their last maternity unit. So this is a real crisis for all of us in this country. This is something I'm so honored to be running for governor. The governors are pushing back on this. And I will be fighting to keep the people of my state enrolled. Vivek Ramaswamy is obviously such a close ally of Donald Trump. And Trump, I think, is expected to visit your state tomorrow for something called the Patriot Games. It's kind of like a weird new Kid Olympics thing organized by Freedom 250. Do you have a message for the president as he comes to your state? You know, what I have a message for is, first of all, for all the young people coming to the state of Ohio, we're so glad to have you here. I live in a beautiful state for folks at home. You know, Ohio is like the United States of Ohio. If you remember us, we are always considered the bellwether in this country. As goes Ohio, so goes the nation. What I'm seeing on the ground is people are ready for change. I hope people are going to follow this race. We are at active. for governor.com. We need everyone's help. Obviously, we're up against forces like self-funding billionaires who are trying to buy our state. But I'm absolutely certain Ohioans are going to tell Mr. Vivek Ramaswamy and friends, you can't buy us. That's what we're seeing. And I'm honored to be in this fight. I, too, am thrilled for all those kids that are going to participate in the games. And the fact that Donald Trump has come in there for a political, whatever he's doing is, it's too bad. Dr. Amy Acton, it's really nice to talk to you. I appreciate you being here. Thank you so much. Thank you. Be well. Okay, you too. Still to come, everybody, with just 85 days to go until Election Day, what to make of the so-called millennial reckoning that is powering a new generation of candidates? That's coming up next.

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you know, punk kids anymore. Yeah. We're grown adults with mortgages and kids. And we, that generation is starting to be decisive at the polls. And there is anger at being ignored, sidelined, having our economic futures mortgaged by the generations that came before us on everything from the economy to climate. And we're taking the reins. David Wigel is a politics correspondent in semaphore. Alencia Johnson is a Democratic strategist and the author of Flip the Tables, the Everyday Disruptor's Guide to Finding Courage and Making Change, and they both join me now. Alentia, what do you make of the Congresswoman's argument that this millennial reckoning is happening and it's coming to take over the political establishment? She's using one of the most powerful ways to enact change, and that's being vulnerable about authentic storytelling. I was so encouraged and excited that she shared her story because I, too, as a 38-year-old millennial woman, just froze my eggs a month and a half ago. And we're making these decisions because we're thinking about economic stability. We're thinking about families. We're thinking about health care and the rising costs and so many issues. I even think about the package that was right before this segment and what's happening in Ohio. the cuts to health care, which that means it's more dangerous for women to have families and go get the services that they need. And so it's really important that she's having this conversation that is forcing us to reckon how are our policies helping women decide whether or not they want to be parents. It's ironic that the pro-family, quote-unquote, party, the conservative movement, they're the ones that continue to enact policy that make it hard for women to make these sorts of decisions. And yet, it is women who are progressive, who want equality for all folks who are having this conversation and being vulnerable and transparent about the world that we are creating that can sustain the next generation, whether it's climate, whether it's criminal justice reform. All of these things compounded are the reasons that women are taking reins over their family planning decisions. Thank you so much for sharing, you know, your personal journey with this. I just have to say in the strange bedfellows department, the White House aide, Katie Miller, Stephen Miller's wife actually posted in support of the Congresswoman's decision. She said, quote, we have historically low birth rates worldwide. If one woman wants to preserve her right to have children, which means more than having none, we should celebrate that. She ends at everyone's journey to motherhood is different, just as each of us mothers. differently. I can't wait to see how motherhood changes Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Alencia, you know, part of the president's 2024 pitch was that he was going to help with IVF. Is this a, is this sort of a, is it a party agnostic message at this point? Listen, I think Donald Trump said that because he thought it would gain him some votes. But it is interesting that Katie Miller made that statement because if we think about it, a lot of conservative women who have become successful in their lives and career have done so because they've benefited from.

feminist policies that allow women to get education, to have credit cards, to have access to birth control, and access to reproductive health care, including abortion rights. And so maybe this issue will no longer be partisan. And it will literally just be about ensuring that women are protected at every step of their lives, especially as majority of women think about their families. One would hope. One would hope. Dave, I saw what you wrote recently about the establishment Democrats. You even say, use the word, that'll use, vulnerability in attacks on candidates to the left. Do you think that it seems like the Democratic primary voters are sort of done worrying about electability and they're just focusing on, I mean, I saw it in Michigan, focused on these candidates that best express who they are, what they're going through, or what happens in the few remaining primaries? Well, you've set it up in the introduction. The electorate is changing. Every four years, every two years, there are different people voting. They are younger. They've had different life experience. If you're looking at races in Wisconsin tomorrow, Francesca Hong, who has risen to the top of the polls in the race for governor, has a biography that I think would have been prohibitive for a candidate 20 years ago in a different generation. She's talked about battling depression on camera. She's raised a kid as a single mother. If you look at Minnesota, the Senate race next. door. It is a, the lieutenant governor's a young mother. She is her opponent. The more conservative Democrat is a, is a gay woman who's raised children. And Yes, the Democratic electorate is changing a lot. The Republican electorate is not going through this same process. There's some elevation of Republicans with different biographies. Byron Donalds's in Florida this month is the front of her governor. He had kind of a rough youth. But the party's actually moving away from what we're talking about. And with the exception of Katie Miller in that tweet, valorizing young families, large families, traditional lifestyle. It's having a discourse that's a bit of a flashback to the 1980s and 1990s. While Democrats, you are saying, are welcoming and rewarding candidates who are younger and have had a little bit of a tougher time getting through the world that was a lot cheaper for their parents. Another one of the things I heard a lot about when it was in Michigan's data centers, and it was a huge issue in the Senate primary there, but particularly from younger voters who seemed to get it and understand it. Pretty acutely, Dave. And Donald Trump has called them, I think he called them tremendous. Yeah, here it is. Tremendous wins for the states and communities that are lucky enough to get them, but admitted that there's a PR problem. I think he told Jake Sherman something about that the buildings are so beautiful, something like that. It does not seem to me like it's an issue, Dave, that Republicans can just afford to shrug off at this point. No, and in Wisconsin, the Republican nominee for governor who does that much opposition, he has said, not that he wants restrictions on the dentist centers, he doesn't want a moratorium like Democrats. He says they should be taxed. But the way that millennials are entering this electorate at.

Not entering. They've been in it for quite a while. Now they have kids. Now they're thinking a bit more of the future in the next 40 years. The data centers are part of that. There is a rejection of the modernity rushing towards people in the workforce who don't know what their retirement job will look like in 25 years. They don't love not just the look of data centers in places where they just started to move, but the idea, pushed by the industry, that they're going to make a lot of traditional white collar work irrelevant, that they made mistakes by. going to college and entering one industry, you're seeing, industry instead of becoming electricians, becoming something that works with your hands. You're seeing that ripple through this electorate. There's a kind of coalition when it comes to data centers of older people who have homes, who live in rural areas, who don't want the construction, and then younger people who don't like the idea, unless that you're invested, your portfolio is invested in companies, chip makers, or AI companies. You don't like the idea of this, this running through the life that you imagine for your family. And so both parties are dealing with that. Democrats are definitely doing. with it first. You know what I think other millennials are not relating to? Donald Trump taking yet another snoozeroo in the Oval Office today, or he gave his eyes quite a rest, I think. Maybe it's the more generous way to put it. We're taking our kids to the polling places. Dave Weigel, Alencia Johnson. It's so good to see a bowl. Thank you so much. Thank you. Stay tuned, everybody, because as someone who has reported from Greenland for this very broadcast, I am particularly looking forward to tonight's Rachel Maddow show. Just a few minutes, Rachel is going to take a deep look at Trump-linked oil companies, very unwelcome attempt to drill right there in Greenland. You're not going to want to miss it. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

That is all in on this Monday night. You can always catch my new show. Connect weekend mornings, 10 a.m. Eastern, 7 a.m. Pacific. Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie. And one thing I've learned is that you buy a house, but you make it a home. Because with every fix, update, and renovation, it becomes a little more your own. So you need all your jobs done well. For nearly 30 years, Angie has helped millions of homeowners hire skilled pros for the projects that matter. From plumbing to electrical, roof repair to deck upgrades. So leave it to the pros who will get your jobs done well. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find a pro for your project at Angie. com.